The Spin: The Freedom Fighters are Gone (and That’s Okay)

Before you send me a ton of hate mail, let me explain.

First, we gotta go back to the beginning of cartoon adaptions of video games. It wasn’t always easy to do. In the early days of video games you had a protagonist that you played as, an antagonist but no real story tying them together. If there was one, it was VERY bare bones. With very little to go on so the cartoon creators had to come up with some kind of plot that could play for 13 episodes on a Saturday morning. Continue reading The Spin: The Freedom Fighters are Gone (and That’s Okay)

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TSS Review: Classic Sonic Totaku Figures

With the popularity of Amiibo figures, it was only a matter of time before other companies followed suit. Gamestop saw the profit in this and with their “ThinkGeek” brand made their own line of exclusive, “Amiibo-ish”, non-electronic figures called Totaku. They don’t interact with your games in any way, they just look pretty on a shelf and they have a plus-shaped base that allows you to connect the bases together for a nice display. It’s a neat way to get non-Nintendo figurines to stand side by side with your Amiibo ones. There are many characters in the line-up including Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Parappa the Rapper, Sackboy, Lara Croft, Kratos and many others.

But of course, I’ll be focusing on the classic Sonic trio recently released. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are all here in their classic glory. Each one with their own fine details. I’ll be going over each one individually.

Sonic

Sonic has his old finger waving pose with a 16-bit ring laying at his feet. There’s striped grass at the base with the checkerboard dirt underneath showing that he’s standing in the Green Hill Zone. This is the same for all three figures. The paint job is fairly well done with a few very tiny blemishes here and there. For instance, the white of the eyes bleed a tiny bit into the muzzle, but only if you’re looking at it from an upper angle. It’s a common flaw in Sonic figures. The ring has several different pixelated levels of colors to make it as exact to it’s game counterpart as possible which is a very nice touch.

Knuckles

Here he comes! Rougher than the rest of them! While he’s not guarding the master emerald, Knuckles is standing over a green chaos emerald. He’s got a cute smirk on his face and looks like he’s ready to enjoy a good fight at a moment’s notice. This is a real solid figure with no paint blemishes at all. Probably my favorite of the bunch.

Tails

Last but not least, Tails is seen flying just above the striped grass. Shown in a pose that says he’s ready to go and an adorable smile on his face, Tails paint job is also flawless. The only downside to this figure is that he has no extra object on his base. No ring, no emerald, just Tails.

Overall this figure set looks great. With the plus-shaped bases and striped grass, you can make a nice display that connects the three figures together. $10 American each isn’t too much for these quality figures. They also make a nice gift for the holidays. You can pick them up at Gamestop in the US, EB Games in Canada or GAME in the UK.

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The Spin: Why Can’t EU Order From The Sega Store?

On October 17th 2017, Sega opened it’s own online shop which had many collectors of Sega merch screaming with delight, even prior to the opening to the opening of SonicMerchandise.Com, fans had been begging Sega to have a store which would be full of exclusive or hard to find merchandise. Continue reading The Spin: Why Can’t EU Order From The Sega Store?

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The Spin: The Case for Shadow the Hedgehog in Smash Bros. Ultimate

On June 12, 2018 via their E3 2018 Direct, Nintendo finally unveiled Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to the world, coming to Nintendo Switch just in time for Christmas. The celebrated blockbuster franchise is back to reunite gaming’s greatest all-stars, this time with series creator and director Masahiro Sakurai going above and beyond to bring back every single playable character in Smash Bros. history, including one-offs like Pichu and Young Link and DLC characters like Bayonetta and Corrin. Continue reading The Spin: The Case for Shadow the Hedgehog in Smash Bros. Ultimate

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The Spin: How Do You Save, What is Already Doomed?

If you look at some of the most popular debates between fans in the last 12 months, you’ll likely see issues with 2D Vs 3D rear it’s ugly head, the talk of tone in games being bashed around like a tired old deflated leather football, the popular debates are sadly the most tired and dull. Continue reading The Spin: How Do You Save, What is Already Doomed?

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The Spin: How SEGA is Ignoring the Middle Children of Sonic’s Legacy

2010 was the year Sonic the Hedgehog came back. Yes, we all heard the stories about how the franchise had declined not long after the jump to 3D, how gaming news outlets and critics even now would begin their pieces with some variation of “Sonic has had a rocky history,” and how every new Sonic game released around the “dark ages” period couldn’t shake off the dreaded “Sonic Cycle.” Continue reading The Spin: How SEGA is Ignoring the Middle Children of Sonic’s Legacy

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The Top 10 Sonic Games Of The 2000’s

2009’s almost out. That means we’ve enjoyed a whole decade of Sonic the Hedgehog goodness in the last ten years, from 2000’s Sonic Shuffle (for Americans, we didn’t get it until the year after, damn SEGA) to 2009’s Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. So, rather than just round up the games of the year, The Sonic Stadium crew have taken to list their Top 10 Sonic games of the decade!

This is how we’ve done it. A bunch of TSS Staffers wrote over their unique Top 10 (which will be listed at the end of this article). Along with it, a short paragraph as to why they ranked each game the way they did. When bunching all of these lists together, we formed an average by giving points to each game’s placement on each staffer’s countdown (so a #1 position would get 10 points, and a game in 10th place would get 1 point). Add all the points up, and we have our own, not-so-scientific average. What game will get TSS’ #1 Sonic Game of the Decade? Read on, dear reader… Continue reading The Top 10 Sonic Games Of The 2000’s

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Opinion: Not-So-Mega Collection?

Dear me. Deary, deary me. Sonic Team are all over the shop about this one. Let’s start where it all began… a few months ago, Sonic Team announced (along with Sonic Advance 2) that they would be making a Sonic the Hedgehog compilation game for the Nintendo Gamecube. Fans of the blue hedgehog jumped for joy – and rightly so.

Continue reading Opinion: Not-So-Mega Collection?
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Sonic’s 10th Anniversary: What Will be the Future for Sonic the Hedgehog?

At the rate Sega is going, Sonic looks set to win back some old fans of yesteryear. And with Sega going multi-platform, Sonic is going to be able to spin dash his way onto all the upcoming next-gen consoles. Although hardcore Sonic fans won’t like the sound of that, Sonic will win back everyone and gain trust in Sega. To that end, it’s fun to think about what will be coming next: here are the current rumours surrounding future Sonic titles. Continue reading Sonic’s 10th Anniversary: What Will be the Future for Sonic the Hedgehog?

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Sonic’s 10th Anniversary: Sega’s Rivals

In the past, Sega has had tough competition from an old respected rival called Nintendo. Consequently, Sonic and Mario were constantly fighting for the Number One spot in people’s lives (of course, the hedgehog won). But aside from Ninty, who have been Sega and Sonic’s rivals, past and new? Well, here’s the lowdown on the bad boys. Continue reading Sonic’s 10th Anniversary: Sega’s Rivals

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Sonic’s 10th Anniversary: Unforgettable Moments

Ah, the joys of playing Sonic the Hedgehog. Doesn’t matter if it was on Master System, Mega Drive, NGPC, Dreamcast or any other Sega console in the past, it’s always been a wonderful time. The marvellous adventures that loyal Sonic fans have had playing through the Sonic Adventure 2 Demo; finally getting to the climax of Sonic 3 & Knuckles… Playing Sonic has brought nothing but fond memories for the casual, or even Sonic-fanatic, gamer. Continue reading Sonic’s 10th Anniversary: Unforgettable Moments

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Feedback Forum: Give SEGA a Break!

Sega has had its ups and downs – more downs than ups, but that was due to its consoles, not the games created for them. Sega tried to make the most out of every console they made (including the Sega Saturn, which was a mongoose to program for). So I believe that Sega is pretty good when it comes to making games. Just look in your local arcade for Christ’s sake! How many Sega cabinets do you see? Most of the games are made by them! Continue reading Feedback Forum: Give SEGA a Break!

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OPINION: Dreamcast Dead?

Heard a rumour that the Dreamcast is dead? At first glance this may all seem like some sort of self-destructive pattern on Sega’s part , and that may make you lose your faith in the company as a fan. But, as this massive news special will soon explain, the odds are all in the favour of the Dreamcasters. First off, let’s address the rumours and stories and whatnot (that sounds SO English. Wait, I AM English).
Continue reading OPINION: Dreamcast Dead?

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